Obon: Japanese Festival in Vista

Yesterday some of us went to Obon, which is a Japanese Buddhist summer festival. Traditionally it’s for people to honor their ancestor’s spirits. It’s similar to Dia de Muertos. I think the difference may be that Day of the Dead is more to remember loved ones, and Obon is more focused on the spirit. That is my take on it, at least. This one was in Vista, and there will be another one in downtown San Diego next weekend, but I’m going to Las Vegas next weekend. Oh- I’m going to Las Vegas next weekend!!! So anyway, they have a few little vendors there when you first enter. In particular there was a succulent vendor, plastic food storage one, and a produce one. I bought a cantaloupe (my favorite fruit) and a pint of blueberries. Those I will definitely be putting on my homemade granola in the mornings.

I went with my friend Jose, who I have know since elementary school, and his two friends from his photography class, Jem and Monica. We also met up with another one of Jem and Jose’s classmates, Roberto, his sister Jasmine, and her friend Brandon. By the way, when four people like us (Jose, Monica, Jem and me, who all have strong personalities (although I do have to say I can be VERY shy sometimes)) get together, we basically just shit-talk and get really loud and have a good time. It’s like that with Jose’s family, too. And, Hey! Don’t think I’m knockin’ any of you down! All you guys know I love you. But you all also know you are loud as hell. And I love it! By the way, Jose’s family, I miss you all. I haven’t seen you in a long time. Ok, now that I have officially gone out on about 3 tangents, I will try to stay focused.

So they have a booth for tickets. Each ticket is a dollar, and each food booth has different ticket prices for a meal or snack. For example, Monica and I got the teriyaki beef, which came with seasoned white rice and pickled cabbage. That was 7 tickets, or 7 dollars. The teriyaki sauce was really good. I liked it, but the beef got stuck in my teeth! Boooo. I don’t eat red meat very often, so I guess if I did I would find a better strategy for eating it. The term Eating Disabled comes to mind. I also got one green tea mocha ice cream, which was pretty good. That was 2 tickets or 2 dollars.

The highlight of the festival is the Bon-Ordori, which is the dance where everyone forms a big, big circle looking inward. There were a few women in traditional kimonos scattered around who would do each dance and we would watched them and tried to follow along, slowly moving to rotate the circle.

I gave up after the first dance.

…Before the first dance ended.

I’m not very coordinated…

The sky was amazing when we were walking back to our car. And we were having a lot of fun with the reflection of trees in the puddles in the parking lot.

So, to finish the day Asian-style, we went to get boba. I got Thai tea boba. Have any of you had it? Its an acquired taste, mos def. It took me a while to get into it. But that was years ago. I haven’t had Thai tea for a long, long time. And…this wasn’t that good. I have to be honest. Jem got the same thing, and she agreed. Monica said that this particular boba store is good sometimes, and not other times. She said it’s inconsistent. Which, whatever, it happens. We still had a lot of fun because there were games. I can’t remember what this game is called, but we played it all the time as kids. Here’s the picture.

Let me know if you can think of the name. It’s driving me crazy! And then we played Jenga! So much fun. First we started out playing it the normal way, but after a while we decided to stack the blocks super messily (is that a word? If not, it is now, fools!!! Watch, it probably is a word. And now I just sound like an ass hole) and called it “Rebel-Style”. But it definitely made it harder, which, of course, made it funner (and yes, obviously I know that’s not a word. I’m not THAT naive. I just like using wrong words. Am I weird? I’m weird. You should hear the way I say “fungus” for fun. I wish I could explain over text. It’s just such a fun word. And yes, it is a FUNNER word than others).

Kabocha Gyoza with Coconut-vinegar Dipping Sauce

It took me a while to get into my kitchen and test this recipe. I get tired after work, and by the time I feel rested, the daylight is gone, so the pictures won’t come out well. But I should have done this a while ago, because it’s pretty damn good.

I can’t take full credit for the idea of this recipe. My friend and co-worker Jenn thought of the curry aspect in the gyoza, as well as the coconut milk in the dipping sauce. Thanks, Jenn! I guess you would call this an Asian fusion dish. I don’t know. It’s kinda Japanese, kinda Indian. Do you consider Indian as Asian ethnicity? I just started hearing that Indians are considered Asians, technically. But there are a lot of “technically…” things out there. TECHNICALLY pumpkins are fruit. TECHNICALLY Peregrine falcons are the fastest animals on Earth. TECHNICALLY eggs are… Think about it, bro. Anyway, I don’t consider India as part of Asia. It just doesn’t fit to me. I would kill to go to India. Would you guys ever go there? It would be such an experience. My sister went three times, I think. WHATEVS, CLAIRE, WHAT-EVS. Just kidding. Love ya, Claire!

The two most important ingredients in the dipping sauce are the Chili Pepper Vinegar Sauce, and the sesame oil. Oh, and the agave nectar. It just needed something sweet to balance everything. So, three. Three important ingredients. But you need them all. Seriously. Ok, but honestly, I encourage you to play around with the measurements (or even ingredients!) in the sauce. It really depends on your taste. For example, do you want more spice and bite? Add more of the vinegar sauce. More sweet? Agave. Or you could try a different sweetener. My first thought was actually honey when I was making this, but agave was in arms reach. I’m lazy, dammit, I’m lazy! By the way, The chili vinegar I got at Mitsuwa, which is a Japanese market off of Balboa ave., near Clairemont. Everyone knows I live in San Diego, right? I live in San Diego! Surprise! I love Mitsuwa. I’ve been going there since I was a teenager. Not only is it a grocery store, but it also has a mini ceramic dish store (which I always spend too much money in), a kind of Japanese cartoon/anime/media store (lots of Pikachu and Totoro and Sailor Moon), a cosmetics store, AND a bookstore. What more could you possibly want in life?! OH and a little food court with two options for food. There is one that has things like katsu-don, chicken and egg donburi (which is what I ALWAYS get), noodle bowls, tempura, all kinds of stuff. The other one is mainly noodle/soup bowls, I think. Don’t quote me on that.

I have this little gyoza press thing, where after you fold the filled wrapper, you put it on one side of the press, which looks like a circle until you fold it into a half moon, and it has the ridges in it to create those classic gyoza pleats. This…this does NOT work for me. It squishes all the filling out and its not even real pleats. Its just dents, really. So I did the pleats by hand. The way you do the pleats is you wet half the circle of the open gyoza (with the filling already on one side, with a little border) and fold the empty side over the filling. Press the edges to seal, but then take one layer, and, starting at one side of the half circle, pinch just the one layer of the skin and tuck behind to create a pleat (that sounds like a method for a drag queen getting dressed. Do you guys watch RuPaul’s Drag Race? Its the best. So funny. Shout out!)

Kabocha Gyoza with Coconut-vinegar Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

Gyoza

1/2 Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), roughly diced

4 cups vegetable broth

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1 tbsp ginger, minced

1/2 head green cabbage, cored and thinly slice

3 heads baby boy choy, chopped

1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Scant 1 tsp granulated sugar

1 package round gyoza wrappers

Sauce

1/3 cup coconut milk

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp Chili Pepper Vinegar Sauce

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Place kabocha and vegetable broth in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Let cook until kabocha is tender. The length of time depends on how large or small you cut the pumpkin. It shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes. Once cooked, drain the pumpkin and discard the broth. Place pumpkin in a bowl and mash, either with a potato masher or a fork. I used a potato masher.

In a non-stick skillet, over medium-high heat, saute the garlic and ginger, only for about 30 seconds, just until aromatic. Add cabbage and bok choy and saute until softened and slightly wilted. You can add a pinch of salt to help the vegetables soften. Add curry powder, cinnamon, sugar, more salt and pepper to taste. Add mixture to mashed pumpkin.  Lay out some gyoza wrappers on a clean surface and place about 1 1/2 tsp filling onto half of each wrapper, leaving a border. Wet one half of the wrapper around that border and fold other half over filling to create a half moon. Pleat the wrappers as mentioned above. Continue until all the filling is used.

Place a skillet over medium-high heat and add a dash of canola oil. When hot, add gyoza, bottom side down, into the pan. Let sear for a few minutes. When golden brown on bottom side, add half 1/2 cup water to the pan and immediately cover with a lid. Let steam for about 5 minutes until the wrappers look somewhat translucent. Remove the lid and continue cooking until the water is evaporated. Remove gyoza from pan.

To make the sauce, whisk all ingredients together.

Makes about 3 cups filling and 1/2 cup sauce.